Never Forget, Never Tell
by Kampe
Summary: Sherlock Holmes was not always Sherlock Holmes. He was someone else first. When a visit to the grave of Alex Rider brings unexpected results, Sherlock must fight to keep his own, and Alex's secret, buried. With John too curious for his own good and enemies on all sides, a friend must reveal himself. The stakes are high, and Sherlock now has everything to lose.
1. Chapter 1-Like It Was Yesterday

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider or Sherlock. Those rights go to Anthony Horowitz, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the BBC.**

**I was reading several stories in which either John or Sherlock is Alex. I then stumbled upon a similarity between Sherlock and another character. Now I have this!**

**Yes, it is supposed to be multi-chaptered. No, I am not abandoning any of my other stories.**

**Never Forget, Never Tell**

**Chapter 1- Like It Was Yesterday**

The gate creaked ominously, as if to warn the empty graveyard about the intruder. A figure entered hesitantly, unsure of his motives. He took a deep breath before striding forward calmly.

A gust of wind threated the man, but he kept walking. His black coat billowed out behind him and his blue scarf flowed like a river. His curly, black, hair bounced around on his head, while his blue eyes narrowed with discomfort.

The wind died as quickly as it came and the man finally found himself in front of a new gravestone. The tall man kneeled down and traced the words engraved on the, otherwise plain, memorial.

_Here Lies Buried  
the Body of  
Alex Rider  
1986-2001  
Taken before His Time  
He will be Sorely Missed_

He remembered the funeral well, false words had been spoken by uncaring officials and deceitful tears had been shed. He had been the only one to miss the teenager; his tears had been true, just like his words.

The only highlight of the day had been that he had known that Alex would join his family in heaven, if there was such a place, but that thought had filled him with nothing but anger. If only MI6 had left the Riders alone. Alex would never have had to die to meet his parents.

Once again the man cursed MI6. He wished for the violent deaths of Tulip Jones and Alan Blunt. If he put his mind to it, he could probably kill them.

That could cause problems though.

After all, it was them who had provided him with this identity. It was them who hid him and his brother from harm.

The day of the funeral was the day he became Sherlock Holmes.

He remembered it all, the good times, the bad times, the anxious times and the down-right-weird times. There had been quite a few of the last one. When you combine a daring genius and an insane one, problems ensued.

As he _finally_ let himself remember, his barriers dropped. Tears spilled down his face and silent sobs shook his body. From within his pocket, Sherlock removed a red rose and placed it in front of the stone.

"Remember mate?" He murmured softly as tears trickled down his neck. "You told me that red was your favourite colour? I thought it would be blue, Chelsea and all that. It was red though. You said it was 'cause red was a homely colour. I never quite got what you meant. Blue was always my favourite colour, still is."

He sighed softly before changing the subject. "Remember when we pranked Ian?" His language was completely different to Sherlock's. It was more relaxed, yet sadder and less confident. "His hair was pink for a week!" Sherlock- except he was not quite Sherlock- chuckled. "Don't forget that time when we hacked the school computers and changed my report? I never did so well back then."

The not-quite-Sherlock took a deep breath before continuing. "I wish we could go back. Back before Jerry changed, back before I fought with him, back before you died, back before MI6 took you." He sobbed a bit harder before attempting to pull himself together. He failed miserably.

Rain began to fall from the darkened sky, mixing with the tears on the man's face.

"I've kept up my charade." Not-Sherlock tried to lighten the atmosphere. "I keep body parts around the flat, perform experiments with milk, use acid on the table and all that. It's a wonder John puts up with me."

Not-Sherlock took a shuddering breath before uncertainly speaking. "He's not you, though. He was never you, he never _could_ be you. Once I suspected he was Snake. K-Unit Snake, you know? No Scottish accent though. John was in the SAS about the same time as you, though, so if I were to mention Cub he might recognise the name."

He cried harder his sobs almost audible now. "I miss you mate. It's been 11 years and I still expect you to jump out and shout at me for worrying too much. Like you used to, you know?" He opened his mouth to continue before he heard the gate creak on the other side of the graveyard. He snapped his mouth shut just as another voice called out to him.

"Sherlock?" John Watson's voice carried over to the Consulting Detective as the doctor began to pick his way across the graveyard. "What are you doing here? I hope you aren't thinking of stealing a body!"

"Why are you here John?" Sherlock asked with his mask back in place.

"Looking for you. Why are _you_ here?"

"Why does everyone else- except yourself, it seems-come to a graveyard?"

"Ah." John was silent for a moment, as if the thought of his flatmate having dead friends was a shock. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Sherlock said dismissively flicking his hand as he did so. It was not 'fine' but he had to keep up the mask of the uncaring sociopath. Being a friend of Alex Rider earned you powerful enemies. They had one thing in common; they all made Moriarty look like an ant.

"Alex Rider." John read slowly, he glanced at Sherlock for a moment before asking. "Who was he?"

"A friend, who died." Sherlock gave the obvious reply.

John raised an eyebrow; he was beginning to suspect that there was a little more to this than Sherlock was saying. John doubted that Sherlock would tell him anymore, but it was worth a shot.

"How did he-" John asked inquisitively, assuming that Sherlock would be unaffected by his attempts to glean information.

"Car accident." Sherlock interrupted, but John felt there was something wrong with that statement. He could not place his finger on it, but he was now determined to figure out the mystery of Alex Rider.

Despite his cold façade inside Sherlock was fuming. John was asking too many questions, but it would jeopardise his cover if he told John to stop. Sherlock clenched his fists almost unnoticeably before stating. "We should go now." The Detective glanced around quickly, you could never be too careful, before stalking out of the sodden graveyard.

"Give me a minute." John called. Sherlock turned around to catch the flash of a camera-phone, which made him narrow his eyes and clench his teeth. John was going to a little snooping around then? They could not have that.

Sherlock watched John run towards him before raising a hand and yelling. "Taxi!"

**Line Break**

In front of the copse near the Rider's gravestone, a man stood. He was encased by shadows and almost impossible to see. He held the pose of a refugee, prepared to run at any time, mixed with that of a fighter. His shoulders shook a little and a tear rolled from underneath his black-lensed sunglasses.

"I'm sorry, Tom," He whispered. "I'm so, so sorry." He took a deep, shuddering breath, just like Sherlock had done, and pulled his thoughts onto another topic. "You did tell me that your flatmate got curious easily, so I'm not surprised. If we both work together on this, I may stay free. If he digs deep enough, though, you might find out a few secrets. For that, Tom, I am so sorry." He let sobs wrack his body for a few minutes before taking a calming breath. "One way, or the other, I'll see you soon, Tom. Just pray you don't see me."

**How was it? Should I continue?**

**Should Yassen and K-Unit become involved?**

**Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2-Curiosity Killed the Cat

**I am back! Much sooner than expected as well. Do not expect me to be this speedy in chapter writing all the time please!**

**Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited or followed this story. If you read the last chapter after the 22nd of December, you would have seen the question I added about K-Unit and Yassen. If you did not read the version with the question, it does not really matter.**

**I would still like to know, should I resurrect Yassen? Should K-Unit play a major role?**

**K-Unit will have a minor role anyway, and Ben Daniels/Fox will have a fairly major one.**

**Review Responses:**

**Alex Rider's Spygirl****-Thank you! I tried to be original and I am glad the idea turned out well. I did read on Alex Rider Wiki that Tom had black hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately, he was described as short. Ah well, he had a growth spurt or something. Thank you so much! Please enjoy this chapter.**

**Reviewer-Thank you. Grammar has never been my strong point, but I do try. I apologise for any errors, feel free to point them out. I am glad that you enjoyed the pace, it may slow down a little bit this chapter. Thanks for the feedback! Enjoy the new chapter.**

**yashendra2797-Thank you for your support! Please enjoy this chapter.**

**Guest (The First One)-Thank you, this will become a fully fledged story. ****Enjoy the new chapter!**

******Guest (The Second One)- Thank you so much. Please enjoy this chapter.**

**Saelufu-Thank you! ****Enjoy the new chapter.**

******Only******** If********- Thank you so much! The last person was Alex. Yassen might come it and K-Unit will play a minor role at least. Fox will have a fairly major role. Please enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 2- Curiosity Killed the Cat**

John narrowed his eyes. He had checked his photo content on his phone, only to find the picture of the grave missing. It did not hinder his investigation as he remembered the basics. All it did was prove his suspicions that there was something strange about 'Alex Rider'.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. Sherlock was lazing around the flat and reading some complicated scientific book. John had been planning to take full advantage of his free-time and research the boy he had heard of last Sunday.

Then he had discovered that someone had tampered with his phone.

It did the opposite of the intended. Instead of deterring him from the case, it made him more determined to solve the mystery.

So, into being came John Watson's first solo case.

John was far from excited as he browsed the web for any mention of Alex Rider. He had found the obituary online and a list of people invited to the funeral. Surprisingly, there was no mention of Sherlock Holmes. The list consisted of:

Sabina Pleasure;

Edward Pleasure;

Elizabeth Pleasure;

Ben Daniels;

Tulip Jones;

Thomas Harris;

Jerry Harris.

A quick visit to Facebook told him that Sabina Pleasure was living in America with a husband and a little girl of two. She did mention that last Sunday had been the anniversary of Alex Rider's death. After a quick scroll through her posts he found that two weeks ago yesterday was the anniversary of Jack Starbright's demise.

Jack Starbright turned out to be Rider's guardian after his Uncle, Ian Rider, was killed in a car crash in 2000. Ian Rider had become Alex Rider's guardian after the death of his parents, John and Helen Rider, in a plane crash. He also found reference to Anthony Sean Howel, Alex Rider's godfather, caught in the crossfire between two gangs in 2000.

With the lack of living leads in that area, John moved onto Edward and Elizabeth Pleasure. All he found was that they were Alex Rider's legal guardians and had flown over to pick him up on the day of his death.

Next he checked Ben Daniels. The man was a former SAS member, known as Fox. John remembered Fox from his own time in the SAS. Last he heard was that the man had been 'binned', dishonourably discharged, from the SAS and was now working for a bank. John added Fox to his list of 'living leads'. He was beginning to wonder if Rider has attracted death or if he had just been one really unfortunate teenager.

When he searched for 'Tulip Jones' he was quite surprised at the lack of information. Only the basics were available. She worked for a bank, had a husband and two children, the elder a girl and the younger a boy.

Wait, she worked for a bank?

'Royal and General' was the name of the bank and John soon discovered that Fox and Ian Rider, before his demise, worked at the same bank. John resolved to research this bank and began to look for 'Thomas Harris'.

The results were a fifteen year old who went missing along with his older brother, Jerry Harris, after the death of his best friend, Alex Rider. Their bodies were found in the Thames two days later. Their mother then committed suicide and their father quickly died of alcohol poisoning.

The search for Jerry Harris turned up much the same as his brother's. The only difference being that he had lived in Venice for several years before returning to London for the funeral.

John, having exhausted the list of people, was prepared to start researching Royal and General. Then something caught his eye. A picture of Thomas Harris and the Brookland Comprehensive School football team was just below the web link.

He clicked it, and his breath caught in his throat.

It was not the black hair and blue eyes of Thomas Harris, so remarkably similar to that of Sherlock, which made John stare. It was not the familiar insane grin on Harris' face. It was not the devious sparkle in his eyes which John knew so well.

John saw none of that.

He had eyes only for the boy with blonde hair and carefree eyes next to Harris. The boy labelled 'Alex Rider' .The boy who was unmistakeable, the boy who was _Cub_.

Hysterical laughter bubbled to the surface as John thought of the boy. It could not be possible. The boy was supposed to be some rich brat, sent by his father for a lesson in respect. Cub was not supposed to be an orphan who had just lost his only relative.

John sat there in silence for a moment, not even noticing as Sherlock glanced in his direction with narrowed eyes. Sherlock's hands tightened on the book he was reading as he darkly glared at John's back. MI6 had not done a very good job with their cover-up; they had made this too easy.

Then Sherlock's eyes widened and he dropped his book with a _'thunk'_. John had clicked on another link next to the picture and was scanning the article. In all of the two seconds it had taken Sherlock to read the article, Sherlock had realised something.

MI6 had not covered-up. They had laid an obvious trail of breadcrumbs and waited for a hungry pigeon to eat them up.

Sherlock swore under his breath. If John let anything slip, Sherlock was doomed. Sherlock quickly took off. He bounded towards his room, leaving an ignorant John in his wake.

**Line Break**

John frowned as he looked through the article. It said that Alex Rider (fifteen) had been killed, along with his guardian, in a car crash. The guardian was unnamed and John was confused. The Pleasures were Rider's legal guardians, were they not?

John knew that something was wrong. Someone had covered-up, but who? Who would be interested in a fifteen year old boy? No, he corrected himself, who with _that amount of power_ would cover up for a fifteen year old boy?

John began to pull up all his SAS contacts, a plan on his mind. Emails went out to everyone off duty. He was planning a party.

**A Party?**

Wolf frowned in confusion. A party? Well, he shrugged, as long as he did not have to pay.

Eagle grinned with excitement. A party? Everyone in the SAS knew Eagle would be there even if you had not invited him. So it was best to just invite him in the first place. He rushed over to the phone and began hitting the buttons eagerly.

Snake stared at the email with disbelief. A party? Since when did SAS men arrange parties? Oh well, Snake sighed, it would be nice to see his fellow medics.

Stingray gingerly held the phone to his ear and then quickly pulled it away. The over-enthusiastic yells of Eagle could be heard from across the room. Stingray could not make out much. Email? A party? Oh, a party invitation sent by email! Stingray hastily hung up before running over to his computer.

Lyrebird raised an eyebrow as he scanned the email. A party? Well he had nothing better to do.

Caiman let a large grin spread over his face. A party? He yelled a quick thanks to Eagle before hanging up and calling his own Unit.

Owl glared at the phone. He worked as a night guard and was not keen to be woken up on his day off, especially since he had spent the entire morning awake. He answered the phone gruffly before beaming. A party? Parties were always worth interrupted sleep.

Hawk yelled through the phone in a futile attempt to get Eagle to slow down. His headache was slowly building and he finally resorted to just hanging up on the annoying soldier. He had a few minutes of peace before the phone started to ring again. Caiman was on the line. He quickly, under Caiman's slightly calmer guidance, discovered the existence of an invitation in his email. A party? He hated noise, crowds and drunks. So, Hawk accepted the invitation.

Dingo slumped in his chair. He had just returned from the surgery after a long a gruelling day of work. He heard the small _'ping'_ that his computer made when he received mail. After he finally dragged himself into the study and read the email, his face formed into a grin that stretched from ear to ear. A party? Dingo was most definitely there!

Bear growled into the phone as Caiman yelled unintelligible words into it. He just sighed and hung up before returning to checking his email. A party? Well he had to make sure Eagle and Caiman did not cause too much trouble.

Iguana watched the screen with disinterest. He really did not care which celebrity was dating which, or if they were in the middle of a massive, and over-exaggerated, breakup. He glanced at his email before letting a grin slide onto his face. A party? Iguana was not going to miss what could be his last chance to hang out with all his friends. He then glanced at his newest email and the colour drained from his face.

_Hey Iguana!  
You are the last to receive this email, so it's your job to drag Fox along!  
From Eagle_

Iguana sighed; this was going to take a while.

Fox sipped his coffee in a daze. He had never gotten over the death of his little brother. After Snakehead they had met occasionally around the office, soon they were close enough to be blood brothers. If the Pleasures had not adopted him, Fox would have been happy to take Alex in.

Fox glanced moodily at his email. A party? He was just not in the right mood. He knew that the other Units would try to drag him along; he was not sure who the job would fall to this time.

His computer made a small noise, so Fox glanced up.

_Ben,  
I need you to attend the party; the organiser is up to something. I am doing my best on this end, but I need someone on the inside.  
TS_

Fox smirked. He was one of the privileged few who knew the identity of Sherlock Holmes and if 'Sherlock' wanted him to do something, then it was important.

Fox was about to reply when his computer made the same noise.

_Ben,  
The Peppermint-Flower made a trail. The breadcrumbs showed that something was wrong. Cub distracted the organiser, but he might see me too.  
TS_

That was when Fox knew something was very wrong. Sherlock never used their code, which was not very good anyway, for anything unless it was vital and, from what Fox could see, the situation was volatile.

If '6 had left a trail of evidence Sherlock's cover would soon be gone. SCORPIA did not forgive or forget, even if they were hardly anything.

Alex had left him a number for emergencies and he was pretty sure this counted as one.

Sighing uneasily, Fox began to dial the unknown number.

**Line Break**

"John!" Sherlock called as he rushed past, satchel over his shoulder. "I'm going to get more milk!"

"We've run out again?" John exclaimed, looking up from his various acceptance letters.

Sherlock stopped before he reached the door. "Yes, we have. Oh, I heard a very interesting version of an old saying recently. I thought it might do some good here."

"What," John snorted. "Don't cry over spilt milk?"

Sherlock's eyes flicked over to the computer, a small, fake, smile on his face. "Curiosity killed the cougar."

Then Sherlock was gone. John had no chance to respond, yet he doubted he would have been able to. John knew Sherlock was trying to stop him from investigating, but if Sherlock was trying to spook him off the case it must be something big.

A small voice nagged at the back of his mind, _"How did he know? How did he know?"_ It asked.

_"The same way he always knows."_ He answered, but he could not shake the feeling. The feeling that told him he was digging his own grave.

_"How did he know? How did he know you were SAS? How did he know you were Cougar?"_


	3. 3-But, Satisfaction Brought It Back

**Disclaimer: I have already mentioned that I do not own Alex Rider or Sherlock, but I should mention that I do not own 'What Does the Fox Say?' or 'The Macarena' either.**

**Only If-****Thank you so much! I am glad that you approve of my grammar and spelling. I know what you mean, occasionally I see a story with an amazing plot, but grammar that puts me off the story. Grammar is definitely not a problem in your stories either! (Brilliant writing by the way). Please enjoy this chapter!**

**Alex Rider's** **Spygirl-** **Thanks! I am never quite sure how a cliff-hanger will be received, you have put my mind to rest. I am really happy that the response put a spring in your step! Yassen is a major character and I am definitely using your first idea. ****K-Unit will have a major role eventually, they will move in and out for a few chapters, and M-Unit will have some sort of role. V-Unit is not exactly major, yet. (Thank you for encouraging me to use K-Unit and Yassen by the way). The idea was to make Mycroft Jerry (with a major attitude change) but if you have any protests to that, do let me know. It is not exactly a case and Sherlock will not exactly meet Alex, but I am using your second idea next chapter. Once again, thank you. Your ideas were invaluable. Please enjoy the chapter!**

**yashendra2797-** **Thank you! I hope this is soon enough, if not, I hope the extra 1000 words makes up for it. Enjoy the new chapter!**

**MLM24- ****Thank you so much! As for the soon? Uh, 1000 extra words instead? Please enjoy the chapter.**

**Marvel123- ****Thanks! It is just the fact that you reviewed that counts! Please enjoy this chapter!**

**MyOtherNameIsAPseudonym-**** I am glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reviewing! Please enjoy the new chapter!**

**yourguestreviewr-**** Yep, Alex is alive and Tom is Sherlock. Thank you so much, for this review and all the others you have posted to my various stories! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**PJHPcrazysis-**** Thank you so much! Yassen and K-Unit are going to get those large roles. K-Unit's may take sometime before it becomes apparent though... Thanks again and I hope this update was fairly quick, if it was not, sorry. Please enjoy the new chapter!**

**Notes: Alex-27 Tom-27 Yassen-47 (looks 37) Ben- 35 John-34**

**Word count (by that I mean actually story content) for this chapter is over 2000. I normally only write just over 1000, so please do not expect them all to be this long.**

**Chapter 3-But, Satisfaction Brought It Back.**

A man carefully assembled his gun. His hands flew over the parts, swiftly building the weapon. Then, with the grace of a ballet-dancer, he moved towards a brick wall. He crouched down and peered through the open vent. He had ten minutes before his target arrived, but, in his line of work, you were better safe than sorry.

His ice blue eyes raked the through the pedestrians on the street below waiting for the, seemingly plain, face of his target to register in his mind.

All was silent, the noise of the streets failed to carry up to the ears of the assassin and he was the perfect example of tranquillity. Even the wind refused to sigh and the rats did not dare to scuttle close to the man.

Suddenly, the sound of 'What Does the Fox Say?' filled the air.

The assassin growled under his breath, mentally cursing his childish (and currently missing) companion. He withdrew a sleek, black, iPhone from his pocket with his black-gloved hand. His finger hovered over the 'decline' button before he froze, confused.

His companion had set the ringtone to 'The Macarena'. Had he not?

He glanced at the caller ID, before remembering that his companion had somehow set the entire list of caller IDs to 'Idiot-in-a-Suit'. He sighed and weighed the phone in his hand, before pushing his blonde hair behind his ear. Clicking the 'accept' button, he lifted the phone to his ear.

_"Hello?" _The voice on the other end asked in greeting.

"Good Afternoon." The assassin responded in a faux, upper-class, British accent.

_"Same to you." _The caller answered hesitantly. _"I am sorry, but I don't know who you are."_

"Who gave you this number?" The assassin demanded impatiently.

_"An old, dead, friend." _Was the sorrow-filled response.

"Who?"

_"Um, I'm not sure if I should tell you that. No offence, but I don't know what your 'profession' is or who you're working for."_

The assassin chuckled in amusement. "Enemies?"

_"Luck of the Devil."_

The assassin's eyes widened with realization. The ringtone had not been set to annoy him that was merely an added bonus. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, before taking a deep breath and responding smoothly in the British accent. "Ah, Fox."

_"H-how?" _Fox sighed and the assassin could almost see him shaking his head with disbelief. _"Never mind, Fox it is."_

"Just in case."

_"Just in case."_

"Call me Thanatos and my partner's Letus."

_"Partner?"_

"We work together." Thanatos, the assassin, smirked as he avoided the main question. "I'm dead, he's dead. It works rather well."

_ "The Diablo Brothers?"_

"So, what happened for you to call this an emergency?"

_"You know Tom? Well his flatmate Jo-"_

"Cougar."

_"-hem, yes Cougar. He's been digging. Maybe he saw the gravestone or something, but he found that picture. You know. The football picture?"_

"I've seen it."

_"Well, there's a link to an article. Cougar managed to spot the trail of contradictions. Tom's in danger. See, he's got an enemy who might unintentionally put him in more danger. That guy's what you might call 'emotionally unstable' won't let anyone but his little 'brigade' harm Tom. You never know though, his insanity is quite unique."_

"I've heard of him, we call him 'The Vulture' in the business. He uses others to deal with his enemies, before feasting on the satisfaction he gets in seeing their remains."

_"Very apt."_ Fox replied dryly. _"Anyway, Cub told me to call you if there was an emergency. This qualifies as one. Cougar's invited me to a party, along with V, M and K units. He recognised Cub in the photo and he wants to find out what's going on. If Scorpia gets a whiff of this…"_

"You tell Tom that help is on its way. We, Letus and I, will keep an eye on Cougar and Tom. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do without Tom coming clean." Thanatos glanced out the vent. "Hang on."

Thanatos pocketed the phone and picked up the gun before lying down on the floor and poking the gun through the vent. He gave one last glance through the vent before pulling the trigger.

Without even watching as the man crumbled to the ground, Thanatos promptly disassembled the gun and packed it into a black brief-case. He removed his dirtied black trench-coat and folded it neatly into the brief case. The black gloves followed the coat and Thanatos opened a duplicate briefcase.

He removed a pair of gloves and a trench-coat, both identical to the ones in the other case. He pulled the gloves on his pale hands and shrugged the on the coat of his black business-suit.

Thanatos lifted both brief-cases and descended elegantly down the stairs. By this time police had swarmed the scene, fussing over the body like mothers over a child.

Thanatos dropped one bag off in the rubbish pile near the crumbling building before slipping off into the alley ways and eventually into the crowds of ignorant London citizens.

"So, as I was saying…"

**Line Break**

John took his seat at the head of the long table. His eyes darted around the lifeless room, which he had hired with money Sherlock had insisted on giving him. John frowned as he waited for his guests to arrive. Sherlock had been acting very out of character lately. First Sherlock had seemed to silently object to John's party, it was as if he knew John's ulterior motive.

The problem was, John did not know why Sherlock was trying to stop John's investigation. This was, supposedly, one of Sherlock's friends and there was something fishy about Alex's death. John would have expected Sherlock to support the investigation.

After a tiring week of Sherlock's endless glares and mutters, the detective's views seemed to take an abrupt turn. Sherlock suddenly went and handed John the money for a private room to host the party in.

John sighed and shook his head, deciding to attempt to solve the mystery that was his flatmate later.

"Cougar!" An enthusiastic, Irish, voice called from the doorway.

Cougar turned to see the ruffled fair-hair and piercing grey eyes of a fellow member of M-Unit. "Lyrebird!" He responded. "It's been ages, what have you been up to?"

"Little bit of this, little bit of that. Desk jobs don't seem to be for me." Lyrebird sighed dramatically and plopped down on a seat next to Cougar. "I here you're a big-shot blogger now. Sherlock Holmes and all that."

"Yeah, he can be an annoying person to be around most of the time, mind you. Wonder what would happen if we locked him up in a room with Wolf…" Cougar trailed off grinning evilly.

"Lock who in a room with Wolf?" A gruff voice asked inquisitively. The voice belonged to a man with dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. The man was a member of K-Unit. "I thought we agreed that no-one deserved that."

"Stingray!" Lyrebird and Cougar cheered happily before Cougar began to explain.

"Well you see…"

Guests poured in. All three units were in attendance and everyone was enjoying themselves in one way or another. Wolf and a grey-eyed redhead, Hawk, were yelling at the green-eyed-brown-haired Eagle and the brown-haired-blue-eyed Caiman. A man with platinum-blonde hair and dark blue eyes, Owl, was chatting to someone with brown hair and grey eyes called Bear. Their Unit leader, a man with black hair and grey eyes called Iguana, was chatting to Cougar and Lyrebird. Dingo, reddish-brown hair and green eyes, was conversing quietly with the fair-haired brown-eyed Snake.

At the very back of the room a man watched the proceedings, his eyes glinting with amusement. The man was in his mid-thirties, like the rest of the soldiers, and seemed to be on constant alert. His cobalt-blue eyes darted around the room as if searching for something. His tousled black hair sat on his head, covering the small black device resting in his ear.

"Sir, would you like a refill?" A brown haired waiter approached the soldier, eying his empty glass.

"Go ahead." The soldier assessed the waiter carefully as he replied in an accent that marked him as a man from Liverpool. "Thanatos." He murmured to the green-eyed man.

"Buono." The waiter replied in an Italian accent before switching back to a London accent. The soldier did not contemplate the seemingly obvious credibility of the accent; he swiftly dismissed it as fake. "Nice to see you, _Fox_."

Fox chuckled and his mouth formed a smile. A small grin slid onto Thanatos' face as well, and his eyes twinkled with hidden mirth. Neither was quite sure why they were laughing, it was just one of those moments where the tone of voice can seem funny.

"Where's Letus?" Fox asked after a moment of inane humour.

"Over there." Thanatos jerked his head towards one of the waiters standing near the snack bar. The waiter in question had strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. The one thing that jumped to Fox's mind was the age gap of about seven years.

Thanatos appeared to be in his mid-thirties while Letus seemed to be in his late-twenties or early-thirties. Fox frowned as he looked more closely at Letus. The younger 'brother' was definitely wearing make-up that made him look older. So the assassin was probably in his mid-twenties.

"He's a little young." Fox said with hints of disapproval and concern in his voice.

Thanatos raised an eyebrow with a tinge of surprise. "You saw through it? I'm impressed." He responded sincerely.

"Doesn't mean he's not a little young."

"He gets the job done." Thanatos responded vaguely. "Anyway, you should join the party. Have some fun." Thanatos nudged the agent before disappearing into the crowd of SAS members.

Fox rolled his eyes as shook his head. After briefly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath Fox plunged into the sea of people.

**Line Break**

Cougar weaved his way through the crowd. He stopped to chat when invited but he mostly kept an eye out for Fox. The former SAS man was the only member of K-Unit Cougar had yet to interrogate.

Wolf had admitted, whilst under the influence of alcohol, to have taken a bullet for the teenager and to have watched the teen snowboard down a mountain on an ironing board whilst being shot at. Then there was the whole thing about Cub hitting a train. Cougar was quick to ask what the teen had been doing there; Wolf had said that the school was for rich delinquents. Cougar had filed the piece of misleading information away for later.

Snake mentioned that he had heard from Cub when he was shot during a raid. The boy had somehow sent him a 'Get-Well-Soon' card with a short message. Snake had been astonished that the teen was forgiving enough to send him a card after everything that K-Unit had done to him.

Eagle muttered something about a birthday present before re-joining the party. Ah well, Cougar had not thought that he would get much out of the man anyway.

Now Cougar's target was Fox. After about ten minutes of searching, the blogger spotted him over by the buffet bar. Allowing his mouth to break into a grin, Cougar swiftly approached the shy man.

Nobody noticed a waiter with strawberry-blonde hair exit the room. He slipped out as quietly as a ghost, leaving his older 'brother' to cater to the masses.

Letus had a job to do.

**Line Break**

Sherlock paced the flat, his mind flitting through plans and ideas. He sighed and flopped down onto the wide armchair. The detective heard his phone go off to indicate that he had received a text message. Sherlock sprang to his feet and scooped the phone off the table.

The text was from Lestrade and offered another juicy case. Despite the many fictional quirks of Sherlock Holmes, solving cases was something that the man truly enjoyed. The boredom was real as well, it was a trait picked up after years of insane plans and exciting activities.

Something about the text put Sherlock on edge. _'A clean shot straight through the brain, died instantly.' _That very sentence told him one clear thing. Assassin. That word alone was enough to scare Sherlock. He had a life here. Sure, it was not entirely real, but it was something he had never thought he would have again.

If the Assassin was Scorpia 'Sherlock Holmes' was done for. Of course it could be The Diablo Brothers, who were helping Sherlock at Ben's request. There was only one way for the detective to solve this.

He had to go to the scene of the crime.

**Thank you to everyone who reads, follows, favourites or reviews this story!**

**Note: Letus is the Roman form/name of Thanatos, god of the dead working for Pluto/Hades. Diablo is devil in Spanish.**


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